Excellent Article.........

[Alan]

...in Sept '06 Sailing World "Tech Review". It clearly demonstrates the gains that can be made by upgrading and downsizing your halyards. The affect on sail shape and performance is quite well demonstrated and very significant.The key to good halyards is to minimize stretch. PoBOn(PBO) is clearly the pick of the litter with a virtual zero stretch factor and greatest weight savings, though the highest price tag. However, there are some other very good options that approach the PBO specs with significant cost savings.A worth while read for those with any interest in sail shape and trimming.

 

[Benny]

The best cost savings is to keep

your currently good halyards. Performance enhancement is not one of my priorities. These rags are selling to those that will spend large dollars for minute improvements in performance or have an ingrained need to have the newest and best. Having said that, I recently replaced the main halyard on our boat as it deteriorated and had outlived its useful life and I downsized the halyard in order to reduce friction. Now the main raises and lowers in a much easier manner. Now that is a benefit I'll pay a few bucks more for. By the way I have not noticed any change in performance.

 

[Honeyman]

Alan...

HOW about a short review of what you use on your 35.5? Material and size for each function. Some of us would like to know what works for a dedicated racer.

 

[Alan]

The best cost savings is to keep

It's very apparent that you don't appreciate proper sail trim and performance, therefore how can you possibly judge good and bad sail shape. I have no argument with anyone who has decided that sail trim is not important to him, but to decide that quality halyards have no affect on sail trim without ever using them is simply lack of understanding.This weekend we sailed in a championship series and one of the boats in our division, who happened to be a North American champion, blew 2 genoa halyards within the first leg of a race and had to retire for two races before he could get them replaced and sail the third race. As the article suggests, halyards are a neglected part of the running rigging and are usually only addressed when they fail. I prefer to replace my halyards before they fail, on a rotating schedule. As sail trim is important to me, I buy the best material that my budget can afford that will afford me the least stretch.

 

[Rick D]

Outhauls

I may have mentioned this before, so forgive me if I am repeating myself. At the last SoCal Hunter rendezvous, one of the presenters suggested that Hunters can get performance gains by replacing the stock outhaul with low-stretch line. He may have been referring to a roller furling mast, but I would think it would also hold true to a lesser degree for loose-fotted mains. RDPS: I downsized to 3/8 Spectra for both main and genny and am happy with the change

 

[Alan]

Honeyman

Thanks for the confidence. I have done a great deal of racing and have upgraded virtually everything on the boat.My genoa and main halyards are all stripped 3/8" spectra. The outhaul is a 6:1 spectra. The spinnaker halyard is 1/4" stripped spectra. The pole lift and pole foreguy are 3/8" 12 strand poly. Light air spin sheets are 3/16" Endura 12. The standard spin sheets are 5/16" Endura 12. the Genoa sheets are 3/8" spectra. I replaced the wire backstay with 3/8" V-12 spectra for strength and weight savings.The stripped part of the halyards is coated to protect from UV degradation.Of course you can use or change any combination of lines, but this is what I use for best results that fall within my budget.

 

[Don Guillette]

Championship Races

Soooo, Alan where did you place in the week end races??

 

[Alan]

Don

We finished second. But..........Considering we blew out our headstay at the end of race one, which we won, with two more races that day which we had to withdraw from, it was a pretty good showing.Today we took a second and a first. One of the two DNS's was a throw out. As a result we finished with (2) firsts, (1) second and (1) DNS.We've only been sailing this boat for a half year and are still learning where the 'fast' buttons are. Next year the Nationals for the Soverel 33 Class will be held at Larchmont YC in western Long Island Sound. I expect by then we should have mastered most of the boat. She is a well mannered boat and has very impressive speed coming out of a tack. Best of all, the competition is quite good which makes for exciting racing and drives everyone to a higher level.Preparation is a key ingredient at this level and we missed a broken cotter pin at the top of the headstay which dropped the clevis pin out and our rod rigged headstay wound up in the water. Fortunately we had just taken down the spinnaker and were still sailing off the wind. We secured the mast with the two genoa halyards and the pole lift until we could get back to dock and send someone aloft to re-pin the headstay.

 

[Don]

What boat are you on now

Alan, are still on a 35.5 or have you changed boats, you mentioned that you have only been on it for a half year?

 

[Alan]

Don

I still have the 35.5 but didn't launch her this year. Instead I've been racing our Soverel 33. The advantage of the Soverel is that we can race PHRF and also One Design. The competition level is much higher which makes for much more exciting racing, at least for me.This past weekend we raced boat for boat with the defending national champion. This crew of eight has been racing together for 13 years. As in most racing the winner is determined by he who makes the fewest mistakes. In the final race yesterday, the champ opted for a heavy #2 in place of our blade #3. With 15kts and a square chop the #2 should have done well, but our #3 outpointed the bigger sail and when the gusts hit, the main on the champ had to be dumped costing him heavily. We won by more than 1/4 mile over an 8 mile windward/leeward course.

 

[mike c]

ALan....

Did Norm Dean race Wacko at the LISYRA Championships?? Norm is a friend and fellow YC member of mine. I

 

[Alan]

mike c

No, I understand "Wacko" broke her mast the week before. It's sure great racing these boats. We'll be doing the Greenwich Cup in a few weeks. Hope he has his mast by then.

 

[mike c]

thanks I forgot.....

thanks.... I forgot Norm told me his stick broke. He just got the Insurance all cleared up and a new stick is "in the mail"...as a matter of fact, Norm crewed on a J109 for the championships.....he said he was exhausted. Big difference grinding from driving.good luck